Academy Teams

McGing: I’m loving being back in the midfield

With a recent move to the midfield, Jake McGing reflected on his return to the centre of the park and the Central Coast Mariners’ ambitions to make a late charge towards the top six.

With preparations in full swing ahead of Sunday’s crucial clash against his former club, the Western Sydney Wanderers, young gun Jake McGing spoke about the familiar feeling after his transition to the midfield from the back four.

“I originally was in the midfield so being back in there is a good thing so I’m enjoying my time in there,” McGing said. “They’re two different positions obviously but they have similar features in terms of playing with the ball.

“There are just a lot more players coming in at different angles in the midfield instead of in front of you at centre back but I’m enjoying it,” McGing said.

At 22-years-of-age McGing has played every match this season and is relishing the opportunity to learn from other senior players in the squad such as skipper Nick Montgomery who boasts over 400 professional appearances to his name.

“Monty has experienced a great career in the midfield so and any kind of advice I can get off him is taken on board,” McGing said.

McGing Captained the Wanderers Foxtel National Youth League team in 2013/14 as well as claiming player of the season honours and knows that any match against Western Sydney will be a tough proposition.

“They [the Wanderers] work hard,” McGing said. “The boys are always fit and very good on the ball so it’s going to be a big game but I think we are prepared for it.

“We want to push for that top six as much as we can so any result we can get we’re going to go for it so this weekend will be the same, our mindset doesn’t change. We’re going to go in there trying to get all three points,” McGing said.

With only nine games remaining McGing credited his side’s motivation which has not wavered across the current campaign.

“Our goal is to get as many points we can and really push for the top six,” McGing said. That’s our aim and we’re not going to stop until we get there.

“You can’t count anyone out. We’ve been playing some great football and I think we are more than capable of doing it,” McGing said.

With Wednesday’s conditioning session done and dusted there is a strong message being sent from Paul Okon and his coaching staff.

“It was a tough session today,” McGing said. “We worked very hard and I think we need to do it at this time of week so it’s definitely the message from him to work as hard as you can and if we do we’ll get the result on the weekend,” McGing said.

The Central Coast Mariners currently sit just five points behind the sixth place Western Sydney, setting up an important run of matches in NSW for the Mariners over the coming weeks.